This ill-advised monetary regime effectively prevents the real economy on the ground from realizing the healthy normalization of free market forces crucial to genuine capital formation, authentically derived from bonafide industrious productivity which generates actually earned savings, the very life blood essential to creating legitimate and sustainable growth.

Under the imposition of StealthFlation, asset prices are deliberately inflated in an irrational attempt to elicit a vapid wealth effect, while the generative velocity of money is extinguished. Worse still, the seeds of hyperinflation are sown, as the compromised overtly financialized economy becomes increasingly dependent upon the interminable entirely destructive monetization largess.

Also known as; wishful thinking, and robbing Peter to pay Paul.

This entirely synthesized approach to capital formation brings about the following disastrous conditions:

6) Encourages deleterious off-shoring of the manufacturing base.

7) Facilitates fantastic fiscal deficit spending sprees.

8) Decreases median incomes and new job creation.

9) Spawns extreme income inequality and social discontentment.

10) Eviscerates the essence of money by compromising the means of exchange and its crucial role as a conduit for savings.

Visualizing the Vanishing Velocity of Money Vortex

The inflationary risks are deliberately concealed and remain latent due to the synthetic suppression of determinant free capital market forces. However, the grossly excessive supply of money has definitively been created, and it will debase the currency via inflation, it’s just a function of time. Continue reading →

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

One of the first who openly told the Neocon Warmongers to get lost…………………at great cost to himself I might add.

“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father.

Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail. Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights.

This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here.

I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.

I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

One should never be too concerned about the gold price measured by a suspect faltering monetary regime. The value placed on the timeless hard asset class in terms of a fiat currency solely backed by the good faith and credit of bankrupt Governments, whose Central Banks are counterfeiting paper money, is only viable so long as the presiding monetary authorities legitimately maintain their credibility and supremacy.

The history of fiat money, to put it kindly, has been one of failure. In fact, EVERY fiat currency since the Romans first began the practice in the first century has ended in devaluation and eventual collapse, of not only the currency, but of the economy that housed the fiat currency as well. (The Daily Reckoning)

The inevitable failure of the western world’s fiat based financial system will leave gold as the only veritable monetary store of value still standing. Once the capital and economic breakdown befalls, the trust between the nations tied to the previous monetary order will have been irrevocably shattered. Gold then emerges as the essential and only time-honored common denominator between the sovereign States, which no longer value each others’ previously accepted paper obligations. Having been entirely discredited, failed fiat currencies, that had hitherto readily facilitated the exchange of goods and services between nations, are simply discarded like worthless paper soiled with spilled ink, promptly tossed into the trash bin of history. Same as it ever was……..

The severe monetary, commercial and geopolitical dislocations which invariably ensue, unalterably follows the disintegration of the previous global means of exchange, in this case the Dollar. This is precisely the moment Gold takes center stage. When the dust finally settles, the only remaining store of value still trusted and acceptable as a means of fair trade is gold. It has consistently been so for well over 2,000 years of civilization’s monetary history, which is about determinative a probability as they come.

In time, a new monetary system is eventually reestablished between the decimated distrusting parties, forced to the negotiating table so as to resolve the ongoing global financial cataclysm. During that conspicuously uncertain period, the new monetary order can only be based on a universally recognized real money currency, and that my dear friends has always been gold. At the end of the day, the honest and genuine hard asset class is quite simply in a class of its own, unequivocally valued by all concerned parties, particularly at critically perilous junctures in time…..

It’s really quite simple, it’s not about the new Stock Market highs, nor the Dollar and U.S. Treasury safe haven. It’s all about tomorrow’s confidence in our Monetary System. Are you confident in the malignant malfunctioning monetization? At the end of the day, the only relevant question still remaining, is not if, but when our cocksure menacing monetary mad men will entirely lose their grip on their perverted paper

Money is stored labor. Labor is part of life. When you debase money, you devalue life itself.

Oh, and for those that incessantly dismiss gold as a barbaric relic, please be advised that the metal remains the best performing asset class of the New Millennium, by a country mile. Be sure to let me know when that changes……

Moreover, Gold serves as crucial financial insurance, whether you have paid $45 per month or $65 per month for the crucial insurance coverage becomes entirely irrelevant when an instantaneous incendiary inferno burns down your home.

To quote the timeless Bobby Dylan: “Come in she said, I’ll give you shelter from the storm”

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

The Bank for International Settlements, otherwise known as the BIS, should more aptly be named the Bank for International division and domination. It’s clearly an institution with global reach, whose hidden covert purpose is to impose the financial globalist’s agenda on all sovereign nation states. The above luminous photo is of their luxurious Headquarters.

Ten times a year, once a month except in August and October, a small group of well dressed men arrives in Basel, Switzerland. Carrying elegant overnight bags and stylish brief cases, they discreetly check into the Euler Hotel, across from the railroad station. They come to this quiet city from places as disparate as Tokyo, Paris, Brasília, London, and Washington, D.C., for the regular meeting of the most exclusive, secretive, and powerful supranational club in the world.

Each visiting member has his own office at the club, with secure telephone lines to his home country. These elite international bankers are fully serviced by a permanent staff of about 300, including chauffeurs, chefs, guards, messengers, translators, stenographers, secretaries, and researchers. Also at their disposal are a brilliant research unit, well equipped medical facility and deep underground bunker, as well as a secluded country club with tennis courts and a swimming pool, a few kilometers outside of Basel.

Undoubtedly, we have all heard of this all important international organization, but how many of us really know much about it, or even understand its intended purpose. The only thing that I knew about this powerful global entity was that it is often described as the Central Bank of Central Banks. Clearly, we all need to know more, let’s constructively begin with some benign elementary historical background transcribed from Investopedia, and also lay out the venerable institution’s specific functions & mission statement, directly from the BIS website itself.

Founding and brief History of the BIS:

Founded in 1930, the Bank for International Settlements is the oldest global financial institution and operates under the auspices of international law. But from its inception to the present day, the role of the BIS has been ever-changing, as it adapts to the dynamic global financial community and its needs. The BIS was created out of the Hague Agreements of 1930 and took over the job of the Agent General for Repatriation in Berlin.

When established, the BIS was responsible for the collection, administration and distribution of reparations from Germany – as agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles. After World War II, the BIS turned its focus to the defense and implementation of the World Bank’s Bretton Woods System. Between the 1970s and 1980s, the BIS monitored cross-border capital flows in the wake of the oil and debt crises, which in turn led to the development of regulatory supervision of internationally active banks. More recently, it has concentrated its efforts on the global financial stability and capital reserve requirement accords. The BIS has also emerged as an emergency “funder” to nations in trouble, coming to the aid of countries such as Mexico and Brazil during their debt crises in 1982 and 1998, respectively. In cases like these, where the International Monetary Fund is already in the country, emergency funding is provided through the IMF structured program.

The BIS has also functioned as trustee and agent. For example, from 1979 to 1994, the BIS was the agent for the European Monetary System, which is the administration that paved the way for a single European currency. Today, the BIS has become the central bank of central banks. The Bank now represents the interests of nearly all of the world’s central bank institutions, and manages a significant share of their reserves, including gold holdings. The organization now serves and presides over 60 central banks worldwide. Accordingly the BIS requires the capital/asset ratio of central banks to be above a prescribed minimum international standard, for the protection of all central banks involved.

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

Stop getting your rocks off making fun of the gold bugs. Get the hard asset now while it’s undervalued my friends. Hold your nose, dive in and simply consider it heavily discounted long term insurance, as you would any required insurance policy. After all, wouldn’t you buy the best long standing health insurance policy ever written, if it were offered at the same low price it was over 5 years ago?

If that doesn’t convince you “sophisticated” cock-sure modern investors to hold a nominal percentage of your financial assets in precious metals, strictly for wealth preservation purposes, perhaps the simple facts below will resoundly resonate with you sharp shooters.

What is it that you don’t understand about the New Monetized Millennium?

The best performing asset class of this millennium is gold, by a country mile………

You can be the first to call me when any of that fundamentally changes. In the mean time, bug off!

The vast majority of investors today generally invests in the standard asset classes, namely stocks & bonds, which the established financial industry presents to them as the most desirable and constructive financial instrument to hold, so as to increase savings. Stock brokers, registered investment advisers, asset managers and the like, actively offer these issued contractual obligations to the typical, garden variety, middle class investor who inherently trust their advisers to manage their financial wealth in a responsible manner. Counting on them to fashion balanced portfolios with assets which will both protect and increase their investment holdings over time. On this basis, it’s fair to say that the entrenched financial industry distribution channels rely almost exclusively on stocks and bonds, derivatives there of, such as ETFs, as well as mutual funds representing a selective combination of these standard asset classes.

Furthermore, these very same financial advisers repeatedly and ardently recommend a balanced approach to investing, incessantly touting the crucial importance of diversified holdings in one’s portfolio. There in lies the rub. How can anything be considered truly diversified if it is made up of the very same general investment classes. Wouldn’t the term diversification suggest a collection of uncorrelated asset classes?

A legitimately balanced portfolio, in the true sense of the word, should not only hold a variety of staple equity and credit financial instruments, but also, to actually be diversified, should certainly include other entirely uncorrelated asset classes. The bottom line, how can these qualified asset management advisers relentlessly advocate for balanced diversification, and yet not remotely offer it? Continue reading →

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

On the grave Greek question, it appears that the moment of truth is finally upon us. After nearly four months of frenetic, fruitless and often feckless high level deliberations and negotiations, both sides remain essentially at an impasse, right where they started. The technocrats in Brussels want to see their austerity driven reform program carried forward and implemented unconditionally. As for the idealogues in Athens, they have pledged to put forth their own enlightened approach to rescue their sinking society.

The Technocrats hold the purse strings, but the Ideologues hold the heart strings. For what it’s worth, that is typically a highly combustible combination, tick tock. With their recent cocksure bravado, are the Technocrats entirely misreading the desperate determination of the Idealogues? Get ready for yet another Euro Summer swoon………

Everyone agrees that Greece, under a corrupt political oligarchy, grossly abused its privileges as a Eurozone member. In fact, with the help of a few sleazy sophisticated Goldman Sachs financiers, they actually cheated on their application forms in order to join the exclusive club to begin with. The illegitimate Ionian books were cooked from the get go, and it only got worse and worse over time. The self serving political elites and their self-seeking sponsors at multinational banks and corporations ran up a massive tab, while their ill-fated nation did not have the wherewithal to pay the astronomical bills.

That is essentially what happened here. Oh, and the parties specifically involved all happened to personally get rather wealthy themselves along the way.

Check out the mess they left:

Along with the privilege of leadership comes responsibility. That clearly seems to have gone out the window here.

There can be little doubt that the predatory international banking institutions were clearly complicit, along with the disgracefully corrupt Greek politicians and high ranking government officials, as well as most of the Ionian elites at the highest levels of society, in the near total abrogation of their financial responsibilities to their country. They completely failed the common man in this regard, who naturally assumed their leaders knew what the hell they were doing, and quite understandably counted on them for proper sustainable fiscal governance.

So, I have a simple question. Why should the brunt of the demanded reforms fall on those least responsible for the mess, and most vulnerable? Surely, the provincial woman on the streets of Athens pushing her Gyro cart up the steep hills of Kolonaki is far less responsible for the lamentable state of affairs her beloved country finds itself in, then those in the positions of leadership whom should have clearly known better. Yet, today she is the one being asked to bear the burden of the terribly onerous predicament her Nation is suffering through. Meanwhile, the bankers want more Euros, and no one is buying her Gyros.

Seems to me the wealthy Greek political class, the int’l financial establishment and the EU political leadership bear the lion share of the responsibility here. Yet, instead of facing up to the mess they presided over and largely created, by putting forth workable resolutions to the debt death spiral effectively consuming Greece, what I have mostly witnessed over the past four months is that same establishment circling the wagons, doing everything in their power to delegitimize the SYRIZA leadership and further cripple their already stressed banking system. I guess the best defense is a flat out offensive. Is this what passes for inspired leadership in this day and age? Continue reading →

Under the imposition of StealthFlation, asset prices are deliberately inflated in an irrational attempt to elicit a vapid wealth effect, while the generative velocity of money is extinguished. Contrived Equity Markets are pointlessly driven higher by the perverse implementation of impotent stock buybacks. Worse still, the seeds of hyperinflation are sown, as the compromised overtly financialized economy becomes increasingly dependent upon the interminable entirely destructive monetization.

It’s not about new Stock Market highs, nor the Dollar and U.S. Treasury safe haven bid. It’s about tomorrow’s confidence in our monetary system……

Are you confident in the malignant malfunctioning monetization?

THEY WILL REFLATE

THERE WON’T BE GROWTH

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

Greece was brought to her knees at the hands of its long-standing corrupt political class elites with the full support of an avaricious international banking cabal. Please don’t lay the blame on the weary shoulders of an elderly woman laboriously pushing her Gyro cart up the steep streets of Kolonaki. After all, she was perfectly within her rights to assume that the leadership of her once proud nation knew what the hell they were doing, whilst managing her venerable Hellenic Republic’s finances.

Yet today, she has taken the full brunt of the fiscal deep freeze, while those most responsible for this massive over leveraged abomination, namely the Greek political family dynasties and their complicit int’l banksters, continue to bask in the sultry sun off of Mykonos on their luxury yachts.

Along with the privilege of leadership comes responsibility, it’s way too easy to simply blame the little people.

According to Atlantic Media today:

The Greek government might run out of money in two weeks. Or perhaps four. Capital controls are either imminent or a month away. Whatever the case, depositors are draining Greek banks dry, which could hasten a state default and, potentially, ejection from the euro zone altogether.

The four-month bailout extension that Greece got in February now seems a distant memory, with €7.2 billion ($7.8 billion) in much-needed funds still contingent on Greece drawing up a detailed list of reforms, which creditors are vetting this weekend. If they don’t like what they see, it might mark the beginning of the end for Greece’s membership in the euro.

The first mandate SYRIZA obtained from a fed up sovereign electorate, who finally and rightly rejected the corrupt old-guard Greek political establishment, was to renegotiate a more rational, realistic and productive debt repayment schedule / structure with the TROIKA.

That is precisely what Alexis Tsipras & Yanis Varoufakis have diligently attempted to accomplish thus far. Should they fail, because Brussels continues to insist on sucking blood from a rock, then the next momentous mandate will be to leave the Eurozone altogether, and for that they will require a national referendum from the Greek people themselves.

Tsipras is much smarter than many give him credit for, he knows that he must be perceived to progress cautiously and as constructively as possible, in order not to be pigeonholed as an extreme radical, which the EU establishment is so desperately trying to paint him as.

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

Open Letter to the New Finance Minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis

.

Dear Yanis,

As an ardent admirer and friend, with the utmost respect for what you have put forward and accomplished to date, I humbly offer my thoughts for your consideration.

In my measured estimation, requesting substantive forbearance from the TROIKA on a purely rational and fair minded basis, as you have suggested, in the anticipation of a desirable outcome, is likely a proposition which will disappoint. There obviously exist significant and powerful vested financial interests adamantly opposed to you on the other side of the table, not to mention the even more considerable, and now intensifying, European periphery precedent concerns which have clearly raised the ante.

Your adversaries’ obtuse position continues to remain implacable for the most determined of self-seeking reasons, and the collateral damage that is Greece, obviously matters far less to them then the well defined and established course they have set for themselves. Remember, they have not done the right thing previously, they don’t do the right thing presently, and thus, will likely not do the right thing in the future, given the opportunity. Don’t kid yourself, these adversaries are just that, lethal opponents.

Considering they were able to stomach the desolation Greece has so desperately endured throughout this period, there should be little to no expectation that they will now suddenly magnanimously change their stripes, simply because it’s been determined by recently elected more reasoned and humane men, carrying a new mandate, that it’s the right and sound thing to do.

Having accepted that reality, almost certainly, zero sum game theory shall be called for. Therefore, in my view, it would be critical that your Ministry of Finance promptly establish an official and entirely credible, thoroughly planned, monetary regime/reset exit program, so as to be perfectly positioned to exercise and execute a realpolitik monetary policy option/bluff, should the ensuing situation which develops call for it.

Make no mistake, Greece must have on the table a true, legitimate and authoritative default & national currency alternative, which the other side is firmly but calmly made to fully appreciate and understand, if not outright fear, even if your first choice is to actually avoid going down that extreme path. Continue reading →

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

Just a few thoughts on Charlie………………..

Im at a total loss trying to understand why these crack S.W.A.T teams don’t strategically hold off for 24-48 hours before brashly barging and charging, so as to sufficiently exhaust the terrorists, and then perhaps attempt to gas them out. Or, at the very least, aim to catch them off guard after dark, professionally equipped with the very latest military grade night vision. Instead, they impetuously choose to storm the building in broad daylight, which virtually assures that hostages are also killed during the ensuing mayhem?

One would assume the pros know what they’re doing, but it sure as hell seems questionable. C’mon now, slowly mechanically raising a street level storefront security gate, are you kidding me??? You can’t be serious! What ever happened to the element of surprise, isn’t that like terrorist manhunt school 101?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating we negotiate with the perpetrators, it’s just that I would much rather see these crazed craven characters effectively dealt with via the most severe of interrogation techniques, and only then summarily executed, so that at least we stand a fighting chance to find out who and what was really behind them………and certainly the hostages spared at all costs.

I mean really, once they have them completely cornered by thousands of expert anti terrorist special forces, effectively sealing off the perimeter for any possible escape, what’s the big rush to go in there guns a blazing……

Clearly, these crazed undisciplined young terrorist couldn’t stay awake for days on end, yet the expert S.W.A.T teams can, as they would rotate shifts. Just seems so ill-considered and outright reckless when so many innocent hostages are involved.

The end result of the special forces’ rash actions:

A) Lost the opportunity to effectively interrogate the perpetrators to ascertain who or what was really behind the senseless attacks.

B) Turned the rabid fanatics into martyrs and heroes for the Jihadist cause.

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

On the old continent, this December 29th, a succinct political showdown is scheduled to take place which may well become a defining moment for our entirely unsettled new millenium. What is at stake is none other than the prosperity of the common man pitted against the privilege of concentrated power. Lamentably, this deliberate dogmatic divide has relentlessly defined human civilization for the ages.

What is at hand isn’t so much about lofty ideals. It’s not about Socialism. It’s not about Capitalism. It’s not about Communism. It’s not about being a progressive, a conservative or a liberal. It’s not about left vs right. Forget all those dumbed down dichotomies. It’s much more fundamental than all of that. Quite simply, it’s about People vs. Power, that’s it, nothing more. Those that have and wield institutional power, and those that do not. It’s as elementary and base as that I’m afraid.

Take a good look around, I defy you to point to a single socioeconomic construct in our supposedly enlightened and advanced society of today which is not essentially determined by that crude polarizing characterization. Whether it be our bought and paid for Political Class, our rapacious Banking Sector, our completely captured Regulators, our entitled Multinational Corporations, our entrenched Governmental Agencies, our marauding Military Industrial Complex, our fleecing Healthcare Providers, our muzzled Free Press, our hijacked Justice System, or our grossly overpaid CEOs, Athletes, and Entertainers, they all have one thing in common, and I assure you that it’s not the common good that they share. What they seek above all else is to expand existing institutional dominion and their own privileges within it.

Sad to say, but at the end of the day, perhaps dog eat dog is what we humans are really best at, and the only state of being we’re actually capable of. Maybe all those exalted ideals of enlightened forms of governance are just a load of crap to make us feel better about ourselves. Judging by the overt self seeking avarice that dictates the pace of just about everything these days, it sure seems that way.

The odd thing about all of this, especially for our nation, is that America was actually born out of a revolt against the oppressive power of institutional entitlement. Does the following ring a bell:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The founding fathers certainly understood the suffocating and stifling nature of undue privilege. Thank God they had the enlightened foresight to realize that liberating men, not subjugating them, was the most effective way to both govern and grow a nation, not to mention the righteous and moral thing to do. We’re not talking about mandating equality here, we are talking about demanding the liberty and opportunity for each of us to strive to become equals to the most admired and successful among us, should we so choose. Continue reading →

Share this:

By Bruno de Landevoisin

What a glorious global economic gala! Apparently, contracting world GDP growth, monumental sovereign debt loads, ballooning central bank balance sheets, crashing commodity prices, competitive currency devaluations and synthetically suppressed interest rates, as far as the eye can see, are all great tidings to be joyously celebrated throughout this holiday season. Well, at least that’s the takeaway from the whooping wonderful world of capital markets. Have no fear, all is perfectly in order. Jamie Dimon, Jim Cramer, Larry Fink and Company have our back. The rest of us mere mortals are simply supposed to stand aside and take their professional word for it, silently sipping the financial establishment’s spiked eggnog until we attain a sheepish state of stupid stupor. After all, the money experts at the Fed are on the case, what could possibly go wrong?

Joy to the world! Yes, it’s true, your Nation too can revel in the very same blissful state of economic euphoria, all you need is the will to turn your monetary policy completely on its head, a la festive freeloading Fed. No need to maintain the integrity of your means of exchange, that’s so old school. That’s right, you too are absolutely invited to enter the ZIRP zero bound party zone, just buy out all your own newly issued treasury obligations and be sure to lap up any illiquid debt that may be languishing. Set it and forget it, that’s it, nothing to it. In the end, it will all take care of itself according to the all knowing fabulous Fed heads and the crazed Keynesian collegiate kooks that orchestrated and obliged this opulent banker blowout. No worries, Father Allen, Brother Ben and Sister Janet figured out how to turn the universe’s economic waters into wine.

Oh, there is one important caveat which needs to be pointed out, along with the monetary ecstasy ease regime, your Nation is also required to unequivocally serve the United States’ geopolitical ambitions and global economic interests, otherwise, no monetary marmalade for you! Just ask Vlad on that score. His toast is badly burnt, his olive oil spread is spoiled, and his Ruble is now rubble. No money honey for comrade Putin until he bows down to the high and mighty masters of the badass bully banking USD monetary system hegemony.

Make no mistake, the same goes for his bummed broken BRIC buddies too. No IMF SDR soup for you! Might be time for the Putinator and his pissed off pals to invite Goldfinger to the festive grand global gala, and have him pour some leveling liquid gold libation into the overflowing currency punchbowl, but I digress, that’s for another sordid Santa story. As an aside, should you want to specifically understand Putin’s general take on things these days, you may want to review his Presidential annual address to the Russian Federal Assembly which was delivered over the weekend. I’ll simply post it here for you, seeing as CNN would rather cover Al Sharpton’s latest bowel movements 24/7. Continue reading →